By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
Repent, Decide and Witness
April 18, 2021: 3rd Sunday of Easter
Acts 3:13-15,17-19; 1 John 2:1-5; Luke 24: 35-48
Easter is the highest celebration of hope, and hope is the core message of Easter! This is a known fact. Easter is a celebration of hope, hope that the Risen Lord brings into our life – by the very fact that Jesus Christ has overcome death, overcome the world and reigns supreme and we have inherited that hope in the Spirit, through our baptism. We too have overcome death – death is no more the end of our life, it is but a transformation to new eternal life. We too have overcome the world – in Jesus our Lord we are new creatures, new beings, new persons and we are called to that newness of life in the Risen Lord.
We are rulers, we reign in the name of Christ, in the power that Christ has obtained for us as children of God. Hence, come what may – troubles and trials in life, crises and confusions around, death and disease right in front of our eyes, nothing, absolutely nothing can perturb us: Peace be with you, says the Lord. I have overcome the world, I have overcome death and I am with you! This is the Message of Hope that Easter gives – how much needed it is in the context of fear and false promises all around us during these pandemic times!
But the Message of Hope is not automatic! Yes, Jesus has overcome the world, overcome death, defeated evil – but that is no guarantee that I would automatically overcome death, win over evil and stand firm for eternal life. No. This hope that Jesus gives, has to be personalised, received, believed in, grown into, made my own, and practised in my daily concrete life! That is the lesson that the Risen Word gives us this Sunday: the Easter lesson of Hope.
Lesson 1: Even if you did without knowing, you need to Repent for your wrong doings.
Father forgive them, for they know now what they do, prayed Jesus. Peter says today in the first reading, ‘we know neither you nor your leaders had any idea wht you were really doing; this was the way God carried out what God had foretold,’ but however he says, ‘you must repent and turn to God.’ Forgiveness is given to those who repent, it is not a right; it is a gift; a gift that is recieved only by those who truly behold it, make themselves worthy of beholding it – the prerequisite is repentance! That is what happens to the prodigal son – he repented and he received the forgiveness from the father. That is what the elder son missed – he failed to repent and never entered the joy of the father!
God in God’s magnanimity has mercy on us children and deigns to excuse us saying, after all you are my children! But we on our part have to be ready and willing to repent of our ways, or that forgiveness that is freely given can never reach us; we would ourselves build a barricade blocking its coming. The Lord is ready to shine God’s face on us that we have light and life for eternity, but we need to turn towards the light to recived it, to behold it and to be illumined by it. That is the basis of hope! Hope is not something that is given to us, without our effort – it is our effort to understand our unworthiness, without giving into despair. Yes, I am an unworthy sinner, but I can never be lost, for my Father and Mother, the Shepherd of my soul is abundantly merciful.
Lesson 2: Repenting is Deciding to keep God’s Commandments
At times repenting is explained and understood in romantic forms and imaginative metaphors! But John strikes the root and puts it in simple, straightforward words: ‘anyone who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments, is a liar!’ Keeping God’s commandments, is the easiest touchstone to conversion, to repentance. You cannot say, I have repented but I will not forgive; I have converted, but I will not love my difficult neighbour; I am a person of God, but I cannot relate to my brother or sister, or take care of a needy person next to me! What are you, but a liar! You cannot justifiy, prove or even claim that you have repented, if these fruits are not seen in you: the fundamental of the fruits – keeping God’s commanments.
Hope is not some imaginary state of life; it is the guarantee of goodness created by my conversion of heart towards God. When I convert myself, there is one problem less in the world, they say! When I repent and decide to do what God wants me, there is one more guarantee for goodness, for virtue, for God’s will to be done: that is Hope! We need to fill this world with hope: not by doing extraordinary feats of prophetic nature, but by simple submission to God’s will, by humble obedience to God’s commandments. It requires that I keep my ego, selfishness, arrogance and pride away and return to God as a child, simple and humble., ready to keep God’s commandments.
Lesson 3: Be Witnesses to the Nations and spread Hope
Jesus appears to the disciples repeatedly and gives them signs of his real presence amidst them, not merely to make them feel good, but to strengthen them to go out and be witnesses all over the world. That is what happened – the message of Hope that Jesus gave them, had to spread: it spread, far and wide, in spite of the unworthy, ill-prepared, underqualified, fear stricken persons that the apostles and disciples were. This was due to the assurance of Hope that Jesus gave them, that hope to which he wanted them to be witness and bear testimony in front of the entire world.
In the hope-draining situation of this pandemic today, how hope-filled are we, how hope-emanating are we, how hope-witnessing are we? If we were easter people, we would effuse hope from with in, not fear; we would take others by surprise with our proaction not put them off by our reactions; we would make a difference in our daily concrete lives and not be swayed by the contradicting, lopsided, manipulated, and illogical claims of many with vested interests. But neither can we give into a naive negationism or switch to rebellious separationism! We need to be witnesses to Hope, witnesses that inspire persons to get up and walk; to open their mouths and speak; to tune their ears and hear; to stretch their hands and embrace each other giving Hope.
We are made easter people; people of hope; people of light; people of eternal life… we would do well to repent, decide and witness to the enormous hope of the Risen Saviour.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.